Some of you might think I am getting ahead of myself by posing this question … but I don’t think so.
The question: Is it too early to begin wondering how history is going to judge Donald Trump’s two terms in office as president of the United States?
Pay attention. Dude is a lame duck. He won’t seek another term in office because the Constitution won’t allow it. Congressional Republicans got alarmed in the 1940s after President Roosevelt was elected for his fourth term in 1944. They wanted to prevent what they feared would be an imperial presidency. So, Congress ratified the 22nd Amendment setting a two-term limit on presidential elections.
I wil concede that historians will have difficulty wrapping their arms around Trump’s two terms. How does history judge someone who wins a second term vowing to be his supporters’ “retribution” and then proceeds to follow through on that chilling pledge? It is clear to anyone with half a functioning brain that Trump wants to rewrite the rules of governance, seeking to scarf up more power for the chief executive than the Constitution currently allows.
Leading economists and constitutional scholars say he is breaking the law by invoking inflationary tariffs on imported goods.
There well might be a special category emerging for this guy. He won’t be judged by history purely by policies he supposedly favors. I say “supposedly” because he doesn’t seem to have a philosophical core that goes beyond what’s good for him.
His obituary will contain the word “impeached” in the leading paragraph. So, for that matter, will Bill Clinton’s obit. Trump went through two of them. You know what? There well might be more of them coming up if Democrats regain control of the House in the 2026 midterm election. The question, though, for Senate Republicans is whether they will find the courage to convict him and toss his sorry backside out of office.
You can bet your final buck that historians are preparing the first draft assessing what this guy has meant to the presidency and to the nation he was elected twice to lead. Therefore , it is not too early to begin that task.